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Anti-doping officials say IOC declaration is insufficient

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach (L) shakes hands to IOC Director General, Christophe De Kepper at the opening of an Olympic Summit on reforming the anti-doping system on October 8, 2016 in Lausanne. REUTERS/Fabrice Coffrini/Pool (Reuters)

By Brian Homewood BERNE (Reuters) - The umbrella organisation representing national anti-doping agencies (iNADO) has complained about "troubling omissions" in the IOC's latest proposal to catch and sanction cheating athletes. INADO said the declaration produced by the IOC after a meeting of world sports leaders on Saturday had failed to directly mention the issue of state-sponsored doping in Russia or condemn cyber attacks by the so-called Fancy Bears group. The IOC promised more power and funding to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), following the meeting held behind closed doors in Lausanne. It proposed that testing of athletes should be carried out by a new agency within the WADA framework, while sanctions would be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA itself must now decide whether to approve and implement the measures. INADO, which represents the national anti-doping agencies of 59 countries, said that the IOC's five-page declaration included some "constructive principles" but these had been overshadowed by the failings. "The IOC's track record since the release of the McLaren Report has only confounded the global anti-doping system," said iNADO's chief executive Joseph de Pencier. "With this latest declaration, the IOC only comes part way to restoring its credibility for the clean athletes of the world." The McLaren report was one of two commissioned by WADA in the last year which revealed widespread state-sponsored doping in Russian sport. "There is nothing explicit about state-sponsored doping in Russia, or about the moral responsibility of the IOC to push Russian sport and sport leaders to necessary cultural change in that country for genuinely protecting clean sport," said iNADO. There was also "nothing acknowledging the findings of the McLaren report as demonstrable facts and not mere allegations," it added. It also said that there was "nothing deploring the Fancy Bear cyber-attacks (which, of course, started against the IOC's Rio ADAMS account and not against WADA) and the illegal abuse of the privacy of clean athletes." The private medical data of more than 100 athletes have been published by the hackers. INADO also expressed doubts about the proposal for testing to be carried out within the WADA framework. "It would be a clear conflict of interest for WADA to do so and then regulate its own operations," it said. However, it welcomed proposals to make anti-doping more independent, improve support for whistleblowers and standardise testing. "The IOC has taken some steps in the right direction – but other steps are needed urgently," it said. "If, as expected, the second report from Professor Richard McLaren details considerably more conclusive evidence of the corruption of Russian anti-doping, then it will be even clearer that the IOC has much more to do to protect clean athletes." (Writing by Brian Homewood)